


ever fallen in love with someone (you shouldn't have fallen in love with) ?

by hawkins_bound



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, F/M, I cried while making this, I'm Sorry, Jane Hopper - Freeform, Right?, That's life, but ya know, el hopper - Freeform, heartbreak! heartbreak! this fic is about heartbreak!, mike wheeler - Freeform, no but really it is angsty, this might get pt2, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-07-07 10:51:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15906792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawkins_bound/pseuds/hawkins_bound
Summary: El Hopper finds herself at the wedding of her best friend.Unfortunately he’s marrying the wrong girl.(on hiatus, for now, considering discontinuation)





	1. prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on tumblr @baudelair-es

El Hopper had been in love with her best friend for what seemed an eternity.

Her best friend had been in love with her other best friend for 5 years. Though you could argue that 5 years isn’t long enough to fall in love, move in together, buy a fucking car and, yeah! you guessed it, propose to each other at the exact same time because WOW THAT’S SO ROMANTIC I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU MIKE!

Her body shook and if you look closely she was quite possibly floating just a tiny bit in the air, though you couldn’t see it because thankfully her maid of honour dress was long enough for the skirt just to lift a bit and not expose her.

The wedding was beautiful. They had a flower theme, Max wore a pretty, flowy, light pink wedding dress, flowers in her hair. Mike wore a classic black suit and tie, his tie was the same light pink colour as Max’s dress.

The ceremony had been equally as beautiful, with declarations of everlasting love, in sickness and in health, whatever may come they’ll always stay together.

Pathetic.

The organist started to play. The song was a familiar one, a painfully familiar one.

“Every breath you take

Every move you make”

El stood at the front, a little to the left of the altar, as Max walked in, accompanied by none other than her father.

El felt a twinge of jealousy. She looked to the other side of the altar to a smiling Will, proud looking Dustin, Steve, almost crying and Lucas. Poor Lucas. Looking up because he can’t bear the sight of Max getting married to someone else. She’s happy. That’s all he thought he needed.

El and Lucas shared a meaningful glance. It’ll be over in a minute, hold the tears. We’ll be ok. It’s ok.

Mike looked over at his bride and gasped at the sight before him. Wow.

The bride made it to the altar, where the priest read his part,

“Do you, Micheal Wheeler, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do.”

“And do you, Maxine Mayfield, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“Hell yes! I do.” Max answered characteristically.

“You may now kiss the bride”

Mike put his hand in her waist and pulled her into the kiss, smiling into it. Max pulled him to herself and wrapped her hands around his neck, sighing into his embrace. You couldn’t see a dry eye in the church, Joyce wept into Hopper’s side, who also let a few years fall down. Nancy watched her brother, truly happy and smiled, next to a ten year old Holly Wheeler (who didn’t really understand this whole thing). Claudia Henderson could be seen, sitting beside Karen Wheeler, using her dress as a tissue.

At last you could see El Hopper standing by her best friend, starting to tear up. And people will long tell the story of how beautiful it was when Mike went in to hug El, his best friend and Max joined in, soon enough the whole party was locked in an embrace. El nearly sobbing into Mike or Max or whoever she was next to and Lucas clenching his fists to keep from lashing out. A lovely ceremony.

As soon as El got to her tiny apartment, she broke down. She cried, locking the door and sliding down the wall. Holding herself because if she doesn’t who’s going to do it for her? Not Mike, that’s for certain.

And she cried for a couple of minutes. Laid on the floor and sobbed. Every time she thought it was over she remembered the way he looked at her and broke out in a fit of sobs.

She looked at the clock, 1 pm. She had thirty minutes to change into the dress that she’d picked out for the party, and do her make-up again, since the make-up she’d been wearing was ruined from her tears.She put on the dress, wiped her face and applied her make-up again. She took one final look in the mirror.

It’s going to be ok. You’re going to be ok.

Her doorbell ringed.

“Hello?” she answered

“Hi! We’re here, you ready for the party?” Dustin’s excited voice sounded from the doorphone.

“Be there in a sec! Bye!”

She gathered herself, took the present she’d bought and walked towards Dustin’s Jeep. She sat down in the backseat, next to Lucas, looking out the window.

She could already feel the tears that her eyes were going to be filled with the rest of the night, her heart ached, the way she knew it would for the rest of her life.

“my poor heart aches,

with every step you take”

“El, are you going to be ok?” Lucas whispered, his voice shaky.

She put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him in for a hug,

“We’ll get through this together Lucas, it’s going to be ok” she felt him shake, trying his best to not grab the attention of their friends in the front seat.

She dried Lucas’s tears with a tissue she’d kept in her purse and hugged him one last time before getting out of the car.

“We’ll be ok.”


	2. you spurn my natural emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why did she ever think that covering up your feelings for someone for five years was a good idea?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this sort of deserved a second chapter, hope you'll stay tuned for the next chapter

The morning after Mike and Max’s wedding.

“El, It’s time to wake up now” she felt a small nudge against her shoulder.  
Dustin groaned. 

“Have you learned nothing? You’ll never wake her up by asking, dumbass!” Lucas yelled from the kitchen.

“EL! I’M MAKING WAFFLES IN HERE! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED IF YOU WANT SOME!”   
Lucas yelled across the apartment.  
Now it was El’s turn to groan. 

She got out of bed, reluctantly. She put on a pair of shorts and a sweater, over her tank top and walked into the kitchen.   
“There she is! My favorite girl!” Dustin’s voice filled the room, everywhere by fleetwood mac playing softly in the background. 

Despite her entire thing with mike not loving her, she could always count on one thing and that was Dustin and Lucas’ constant presence. The three of them had lived together for a year and a half and really, if she was being honest, it was pretty great. 

“So, how are you guys this fine morning,” Dustin was still high on happiness from the night before, “fantastic!” El mumbled sarcastically, more to herself than anyone else, right as Lucas put her dish down on the table in front of her.

“What was that all about?” Dustin asked as he sat down with his cup of camomile tea. El eyed his cup with a look of utter disgust “I still don't get why you don't drink coffee, that thing is disgusting” she scoffed, hoping she'd dodged Dustin's question. 

“Ok, El, Ellie, my girl, tea helps me relax, I hate coffee more than anything. I thought we'd settled this, ” Dustin said, looking her in the eyes with a worried expression, “Now, are you going to tell me what that was about?” 

“Oh, it's nothing” she tried to brush it off but Dustin wouldn't give up so easily.   
“Is it really nothing? You know you can talk to me, you're like my best friend”   
“ I thought Lucas was your best friend”   
“You can have more than one best friend El” Dustin reminded her.

“ok, it's just… I think Mike and Max are a little young to be getting married, that's all.” (liar liar liar! Every bit of her insides was yelling at her! You're lying!)  
She and Lucas shared a look. 

“But they're perfect together! They even proposed at the same time!”  
“yeah, ok I'm sorry. They're perfect together. Forget I ever said something.” El’s voice was at a slightly higher pitch than usually.   
“Well, ok. But you want to talk, you know I'm here El” Dustin knew when to stop, a telekinetic tantrum was not something he wanted to unleash upon himself. 

“I’m gonna go for a shower” he called at them from his room, gathering his things and a towel and proceeding to the bathroom. 

“You know El, as much as I hate to admit it, at least Max is with Mike. She could have picked someone else, someone much worse. If this is what it's come to then at least it's him.” Lucas had lowered his voice to a whisper,   
“But who are you gonna be with Lucas? Are you going to watch with me when they have a kid? On their anniversaries? Christmas?” El had been having this conversation with herself in her head for years. What am I going to do? Who am I going to love? Why can't life work out like one of my shows? You love someone and they love you back? 

“We’ll find someone,” He gave her a reassuring smile, “what about that guy you met for coffee the other day? He sounded nice”  
El groaned, “he was… so annoying” Lucas eyed her and scoffed. “In a 'i don't like soap operas’ way or a 'my name isn't Mike Wheeler’ way?” 

“He called my shows the worst thing that's ever been put on tv! Obviously I can't date a guy like that!” El said, stuffing another piece of her waffles in her mouth. Another groan from Lucas. “And the fact that he isn't Mike also plays a big part in it, doesn't it?”   
“Well, he's not!” El shrieked. “He didn't like star wars either! He said he hates girls that play video games! I can go on… ” she took a sip of her orange juice.   
She stood up and crossed the floor from the kitchen into the living room,   
“I should call Max, you think we could have them over for dinner or whatever tonight?” El asked Lucas, just as Dustin opened the bathroom door, wearing a damp t-shirt that clung to his chest, a towel around his waist, “That’s a great idea guys!”   
“I’m calling them right now,” picking in Max's number and putting the phone against her ear, “Hello, who is this?” Mike's soft voice filled her ears, a small lump formed in her throat which she forced away, “Hi, it's El! How's my favourite boy today?”   
“Pretty fuckin’ married,” a small chuckle could be heard somewhere near him, probably Max, El let out a tiny laugh. “But yeah, what's up?” his voice was heavenly, you could hear that he was still a bit hoarse from the day before and yet… it was soft like velvet, smooth like honey, a bit raspy and perfectly Mike's. Gosh I need to let this go. “uh, me and the boys, we'll, me, Lucas and Dustin were wondering if you and Max wanted to come over for pizza tonight? We can watch star wars?” she took a deep breath to steady herself. It's ok, I'm ok.   
“Yeah definitely! We'll be at your place around seven-ish? Sound good?” Mike’s voice sounded in her head once again.  
“Yep, see you guys then!” “Oh wait, El?”   
“Yeah” El breathed,  
“are you feeling ok? You sound a bit sick, you looked a little gloomy yesterday for a bit… maybe it's just me, but you know that you can talk to me, ok? You're my best friend and I love you, don't forget that” Mike sounded sincere, like he really meant it and at that her heart swelled. If you only knew.   
“Yeah, I'm ok, just a little emotional these days, I think I'm coming down with something,” she sighed “Don’t worry, I'm fine”  
“Want me to bring you anything? Eggos? Chocolate?” Mike offered,  
(why are you being so nice? I'm trying to get over you, idiot)  
“Ice cream?”  
“You got it”   
“See you guys tonight then?”   
“Tonight.” 

She hung up. “They coming tonight?” Lucas yelled from the kitchen, “Yeah, he said they'd be here around seven” El yelled back.   
Lucas crossed the living room to the couch that she was sat down on, burying her head in her hands, the memories from the day before flooding into her system. The way he looked at her. You need to stop right now. Stop it.   
“You doing ok?” Lucas asked El, well aware that she most definitely wasn't ok. “No, not really. How about you?” El was tired of having this conversation but she knew it made Lucas feel better about the whole situation even if he acted like he didn't want to talk about it. She sometimes knew him better than he knew himself.   
“I don't know, really. I'm happy that she's happy, I guess.” Lucas laid down, El moved so he could lay his head on her lap and he did. It felt nice to have someone to talk to. “Want to watch some lame soap opera?” Lucas peeked at her through his eyelashes, her entire face lit up and she broke out in a huge grin, “Yes please”.

 

The day went by, El went to the bookstore and bought a few books, a record and a new plant for her room. She went to see Steve (a new deputy straight out of the academy) and her dad at the station. Then she walked home, in the rain. 

She walked in and hung her jacket up, ran her hands through her damp hair and turned around to face her roommates. Lucas was asleep on the couch while Dustin laid on their old la-z-boy (gifted to them by the one and only Ted Wheeler while Mike still lived with them) watching tv, looking a bit out of place, really.   
“Hi,” El walked by the living room and into her room. She took her soaking t-shirt off and slipped into the first hoodie she saw. She walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch that Lucas was currently sleeping on, moving his feet on top of hers. Dustin turned to her and ran his hand through his untamed curls, “El,” he looked stressed, worry etched over his face, “so, do you remember in like eighth grade when you had a crush on Mike?” the smirk on her   
face had faded into an uncomfortable blush and a tiny forced smile. “Yeah? Why are you bringing it up?” She was clenching her fist, it was under Lucas’s legs so he couldn’t see it, thankfully. “Oh, uh, It’s nothing. I-I just don't remember you ever going through a getting-over-it phase like I did with Max. I was just thinking about it, that’s all” he ran his hand through his hair again, looking at her with a somewhat confused expression.   
“I don’t really have as extreme reactions to break-ups or unrequited love as you Dustin” she reminded him a smirk returning to her face, “I don’t have to do anything, really. I just think about it for a bit, then I might cry. I get an eggo if I’m very sad but in the end I just… accept it, I guess.”   
El took a deep breath and then released it.   
Then the doorbell rang. “I’d better go get that,” Dustin stood up and rushed to the door. El shook Lucas lighty, “they’re here, Lucas, you gotta wake up”. 

Mike entered the room, he was wearing a hoodie, sweatpants, curls sticking in the air, a huge grin on his face. She felt her breath catch in her throat. Shit.


	3. I'll only end up losing you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party eats pizza and continues to be oblivious to each other's feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone, I'm terribly sorry for making you all wait so long for a chapter as short as this one. I'm finally on a bit of a roll with this story and I hope chapter 4 will be a little easier to write. All that being said, I hope you like this chapter more than I do. Ily all ok bye!

“The saddest kind of sad is the sad that tries not to be sad. You know when sad tries to bite its lip and not cry and go “no, I’m happy for you”? That’s when it’s really sad”

“Hi Mike” She can't fucking breathe, he looks heavenly. He looks the way he sounded on the phone earlier, soft. He looked happy. “I brought you ice cream! We couldn't decide so we bought four kinds!” he laid the ice cream down on the floor and stretched his (uncontrollably long) hands in the air. 

“You didn’t have to buy four kinds, I’m fine with just one” she stood up and walked over to him to greet him, he opened his arms to her, pulling her into a warm embrace. She hugged him back, trying to act as if her heart wasn’t swelling (or aching, she couldn’t really tell the difference at this point) at the thought of his kindness. He ruffled her still damp hair and kept walking into the living room to greet Dustin.  
She walked into the kitchen, where Lucas was stationed.  
“Did you order already?” she asked him, looking out the window of their tiny kitchen. “Yeah,” he looked kind of sad, kind of like he was trying to hide it from Max that was standing by the fridge, scanning through it to find something to eat, because if Max wasn’t eating she was definitely hungry.  
“When was the last time you guys went to the store? There is literally nothing in here!” Max sighed dramatically, not even trying to hide her disappointment. El looked at her, are you for real right now? “I went to the store like two days ago and besides,” she looked over to where Mike and Dustin were engaged in a conversation, “didn’t you just get married yesterday? Don’t you have a ton of leftovers in your fridge?” she looked at her and flashed a joking smile, “my husband literally just bought you four boxes of ice cream, you’re not really allowed to make fun of my eating habits right now, Hopper!” Max kicked her lightly in the shin. She pretended to fall back in pain, laughing and landing on Dustin who caught her, “hi Dusty!” she looked up at him and smiled as he cringed at the nickname, “hi Ellie!” he looked down at her and laughed.

“Uh, guys? Is Will coming over too?” Mike yelled from the living room, “Yeah, I think so. Unless…”   
“Unless what?”   
Max rolled her eyes at Mike, “unless he’s with Charlie” the redhead said mockingly. Will’s boyfriend Charlie was pretty cool. He was a real artistic type, studying modern art or something. None of them were quite sure. Will seemed happy and to be honest? He deserved it.   
He spent nearly every day with him, he would go away for school in a few weeks so they didn't really blame him.

El was about to say something regarding the matter when the doorbell rang.   
An overexcited Dustin yelled “Pizza!” and started running towards the door with Max following him swiftly.   
The boy that delivered the pizza was only a few years younger than they were, he’d gone to high school with them. He congratulated Max on the engagement to which she smiled and then proceeded to tell him that “we’re actually married now!” then she showed him the ring.

The pizza was great, it almost made her forget the fact that she wanted to puke.  
Almost. 

“So, you guys want to watch star wars or…” Dustin was sat in front of the tiny tv Lucas had bought off of his uncle a few months ago, looking for a movie to watch, “we also have back to the future, ooh the shining, It’s been a while since we watched that, hasn’t it Max?” He grinned at the redhead that was sitting behind him. She pointed her middle finger at him and scoffed.   
“I wasn’t that scared”   
“Sure you weren’t,” Mike laughed at the girl in his arms but when she shot him a glare however his smile faded, “I say we go for back to the future, to warm up for the new one!” 

“I always forget how much I love that movie,” Dustin was lying on the floor, stationed with a bag of Cheetos and a three musketeers bar next to him (“just let me eat my nougat and I'll let you eat your gross eggos!”) “Wanna watch another one?” 

El really disliked this. Her two best friends were married! They’re married to each other. But she’d learned a long time ago that she’d have to be ok with it if she wanted to keep both her best friends in her life.

Mike and Max were an unlikely couple, to say the least. They both had explosive personalities which caused them to clash. They fought like crazy when they fought but surprisingly that had never caused them to leave each other. (unfortunately). During their junior prom Lucas lost it at Mike when he’d hurt Max with a snarky comment but at the end of the night, Lucas and El found them in the middle of a heated make-out session behind the school. El felt her heart burn and her stomach sank at the sight.   
She’d spent the night at Lucas’ place that night, the first night of many spent making sure Lucas was ok.

“Do you guys wanna stay over? It's like one am and I don't care how good of a driver you are Max, you cannot drive after those two beers you've had” Lucas laughed and Max frowned at him. “Fine. We’ll stay.” 

Max and Mike stayed in Lucas’ bed and Lucas stayed with El in her room.   
“This feels a bit like old times, huh?” Lucas laughed, reminding El of their high school sleepovers. “I guess,” she laughed too “just promise not to spill Gatorade over my bed like that one time. It turned my sheets blue.” He laughed at the fond memory, “in my defence, you startled me”  
She fixed him a look, “sure”, she rolled her eyes jokingly at him, “sure I did.”

Lucas was about to retort with some brilliant comeback, no doubt when the door swung open. Mike’s face peered in. “Are you staying here Lucas?” he asked confusedly.   
“Yeah? I am” Lucas was equally as confused. He always slept in El’s room when they stayed over. “Yeah, ok, no, I mean-” Mike stammered. He looked… nervous. There was an emotion in his eyes that she couldn’t quite read. He walked out leaving a confused El and Lucas behind.   
“What the hell was that” El whisper screamed at Lucas. “He was… jealous?” El stared at him in shock. Even the notion that Mike was jealous of Lucas staying in her room was absurd, just as absurd as Lucas bringing that up as a reason for him to act strangely. It was just the way that Mike was, sometimes he was a bit out of it, he was probably a bit tired. It was almost two-thirty in the morning and she doubted that he’d gotten a lot of sleep the night before due to reasons she was entirely uncomfortable thinking about.  
“Yeah, right,” El scoffed. “Next thing I know he’ll be dumping Max and falling at my feet! ‘Oh, El! I was wrong this whole time! You’re the love of my life!” She mocked sarcastically. Lucas rolled his eyes at her.   
She threw her pillow at him “shut the fuck up Lucas, he was clearly out of it, you know how he gets when he’s tired!”   
“He never stutters, maybe he-”   
El’s stomach stung with a feeling she could only recognize as disappointment, “can you drop it?” she whispered.   
“I’m sorry, El,” Lucas climbed over the bed and took her into his arms, “It’s ok,” he rubbed her back as she clung to his taller frame. “You’re my best friend, you know that right?” she said to him softly, “I thought Max was your best friend”   
“You can have more than one, you know that right?” she peered at him through her eyelashes, “You’re my best friend too”. 

-

Someone was shaking her. Why does waking up always involve someone shaking her until she finally wakes up?   
“El! You gotta wake up!”   
She opened her eyes and sat up immediately when she saw who it was. It was Mike. Mike with a tear-stained face.   
“Mike, what’s wrong?” she reached for a hoodie and put it on while he caught his breath. “Can we go for a drive?” was all he could say back.


	4. You're my best friend too.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the road was quiet. The way she liked it.
> 
>  
> 
> aka 
> 
>  
> 
> Mike is sad and El is his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh, I don't even know what this chapter is. It's just like... there for a lil backstory I guess.  
> anyway. thanks to everyone who has read this, left comments and kudos. I appreciate you all so freaking much. I've been going through shit for the past month so yeah, this update would've been way earlier if I'd had time and all that, you know what school's like.   
> I've been thinking about where this fic is going and I honestly don't know. I'm going to try to finish it though, duh. I just need time that's all. but without further ado, I'll let you get to the chapter. I don't really like it but I hope you do. Just go read babe. bye.

The road was quiet. The sun was coming up, its rays lighting up the face of the boy in the seat next to her as they drove. 

“You hungry?” she asked him right when she spotted Benny's diner down the road.   
“Sure,” his voice was still hoarse.

She pulled over at the diner. They were greeted with the smell of new coffee and a hint of waffles. The diner had always felt like home to the pair. They’d spent hours there after school with their friends, studying for their finals or celebrating birthdays. (Dealing with heartbreak with Lucas.) Right now they were there because this was where El went when she didn’t know what to do. 

They sat down inside the diner. Mike sighed when he sat down.  
“Get whatever you want, breakfasts’ on me” she flashed a small smile at her best friend, ignoring the fact that she was still filled with the panic of not knowing why her best friend had woken her up at dawn and asked to go for a drive. “I’m having pancakes then, what about you?”   
“I- um,-”   
“Waffles with syrup, strawberries and chocolate chips, right?” he smirked at her with a knowing look on his face. “You didn’t think I’d forget, did you?” she raised her eyebrows and smiled back, her light brown eyes looked like dark honey in the early morning sun, her curls looking like dark gold.

“My dad called last night” he finally said.   
“He what?”   
“He called me,” he scratched his head “he called to congratulate me on the wedding” El shook her head “That’s so unfair”.   
Mike took a deep breath.   
“I don't really know what I'm supposed to feel, I just…” El grabbed his hand and looked into his eyes, “you don't owe him anything. Not at all. He abandoned you.” Mike was tearing up again.  
“You were thirteen years old. You were a kid. It was his decision to leave. It's not your fault, or Holly's or Nancy's or your mom's,” she reached over the table and dried his tears.  
“He said he wanted to like… meet Max. Ask us to dinner or something like that, he did the exact same after Nancy and Jonathan got married, actually.”   
“Did he say something else?”   
“He did,” a small chuckle left his lips, “but, it’s not important, like at all, just him coming up with more and more bullshit like he always does”. Something pulled at her, she wasn’t quite convinced that it was nothing. 

“Are you sure it’s nothing? I mean, if it really is something, you can tell me, you know”.  
Another chuckle, “he said he was surprised that I wasn’t marrying you, he said he’d always thought we’d end up together” he shrugged. She felt like she’d been punched in the gut. She shook her head and smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.  
“Wow, that’s weird,” she sighed, “it’s funny that he’d say that,”   
“I mean, I did have a crush on you in middle school, but that was a long time ago, right?” she giggled, “you had a crush on me in middle school?”   
“Yeah, it was really bad,” she choked out a giggle. 

“That’s so funny,” she said, taking a bite of her waffle.  
“Why is that funny?”   
“Because I used to have a crush on you.”  
-  
El liked driving in the mornings. Empty roads and watching the sunset. It was calming. Yep, that’s the word calming, relaxing.

“Do you wanna go straight back? It’s only nine pm, and I’m guessing none of the others are awake yet.” Mike didn’t respond right away, looking out the window instead, taking a deep breath. “Wanna go say hi to Steve?”   
“Sure”.

Now, they’d known Steve for a while and ever since Nancy dumped him in high school he’d been like a big brother to them. When he graduated he decided that college wasn’t for him so he joined the police academy. He now worked as a deputy at the sheriff’s department with El’s dad, Jim, but known as Hopper by most. Steve's younger brother, Sean, was actually in the academy, training as a deputy, following in his brothers footsteps. 

When they walked into the police station they were greeted by Flo, as always. The older woman was getting a bit tired but was always especially nice to Mike and El when they came in for a visit. “It’s always so nice to see you two here,” she smiled warmly at the pair, “Sean and Steve are in Hop’s office,” “Thanks Flo, lovely to see you too,” Mike and El both smiled at her and continued to make their way through the station, a few congratulated Mike on the wedding.

Hopper’s office wasn’t exactly tidy. It was extremely messy to the untrained eye but, if you were either El, Steve or Hop you knew exactly where everything was, because, it was an organised mess.   
“My god dad, I think this place wouldn't collapse if you opened the window,” El scrunched up her nose at the lack of air and the heavy smell of the sheriff's office. “Don't know what to tell ya kid,” Hop smiled at his daughter, “we're in the middle of an investigation,” Steve said, matter-of-factly from his position on the couch, next to his brother, Sean. 

Now, even El could admit that he was attractive, he’s Steve Harrington’s younger brother for god’s sake, of course he’s cute. Sean had definitely inherited the same chocolate brown-ish eyes as Steve had but as for the hair he didn’t have the same dark locks as he did, his hair was a dusty kind of golden-blond colour with only the slightest curl to it. He was the same age as El and Mike but had hung with a different crowd than she and her friends had in high school. He, Steve and their sister lived together, not far from where she, Lucas and Dustin lived. Since Steve had graduated high school he and his siblings lived together due to the fact that their parents were “useless shit-for-brains parents who only cared for their own asses and couldn’t take responsibility for anything including raising their own goddamn kids” (Steve’s words, not mine). And, due to the facts stated before, Steve had assumed custody over them when he turned eighteen. Their sister, Cora was seventeen and a high school senior. She was extremely bright and El had taking a liking to her in spite of only having met her a few times.

Hop stood up to give El a hug, gesturing in Mike’s direction to join when he saw his unsure expression. 

When they left the station Mike suggested they go pick up some breakfast for their friends. They pulled over in a tiny drive through and, you guessed it, bought their friends some breakfast.

“You ever think that maybe,” Mike turned over to her in the car and sighed,   
“Do I think that maybe? Gotta give me some more context here Wheeler,” she let out a soft laugh. He turned the radio down.  
“Do you think that maybe things would be totally different if you’d done something a certain way, like if Max and I hadn’t forgiven each other that time when you and Lucas forced us to talk after our fight at that dance years ago,” he looked unsure of what he was going to say next, “I just… no, forget it.” He shifted his gaze from her to the road.  
“Is this about what your dad said?” El said softly, her voice soft and comforting to him, like she’d always been and will always be. “Kind of,” he mumbled, feeling his nose sting the way it always did before he cried, “I just don’t understand how he just,” a tear rolled down his cheek, “how he could just leave, not speak to me or Nancy or Holly or just… anyone for years and then just call me. Not to say sorry or to explain, but to congratulate me on my wedding, which he was not invited to,” he sighed. “I never want to speak to him again. Ever.”  
“Then don’t.”   
“What?”  
“You don’t have to talk to him, not if it hurts you. I don’t speak to my mother and I’m doing just fine,” she turned to him and looked at him, taking his hands in hers, “you don’t need him.”   
“I don’t.”

Once they stepped out of the car, Mike’s cheeks we’re still swollen from his tears but he felt better. Thanks to El.   
“I don’t know what i’d do without you,” he held his hands out to her, pulling her into an embrace. She felt her heart swell as she tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and focus on the hug he’d pulled her into. “I don’t know what I’d do without you either,”  
“I love you,” he whispered into her curls, “you’re my best friend.”  
“You’re my best friend too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Micheal "i love you, you're my best friend" Wheeler. You fucking idiot. You dumb bitch.


End file.
